


Lusca

by CasualOtaku



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Biological Technology, Blushing, Hopeful Ending, Humor, JayTim Week, JayTim Week 2021, Light Vore (But Not Really), M/M, Possible Body Horror, Snippets, Telepathy, Tentacles, tentatodd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-23 06:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30051300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasualOtaku/pseuds/CasualOtaku
Summary: Tim is trapped on a damaged ship with no rescue in sight when he suddenly gets a most unusual visitor offering him passage to the next inhabited world.Written for JayTim Week 2021.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Comments: 26
Kudos: 83
Collections: JayTim Week 2021





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAY ONE - SPACE OR PIRATES

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was just an opening snippet. (Then the request I took for day two was to continue.) Many thanks to WeirdAlterEgo for giving this a fast beta before I unleashed it on the world.

Three weeks. Tim had been trapped in the wreckage of his parent’s research vessel for three weeks and he was starting to lose hope. He tried to tell himself he should be grateful that the hull was intact enough to keep him alive that long, but he was down to just a few days worth of rations in the areas of the ship he could still access and he’d yet to hear even a burst of static from the communications array.    
  
Tim sighed and pushed himself away from the control panel. He’d cut off the gravity and dropped the temperature five days ago in a desperate bid to stretch out his fuel cells just a little bit longer. He knew that inertia was carrying him deeper and deeper into the unknown, but he’d cut off the cartography displays long ago. Seeing the red of the ship slowly mapping out the surrounding area only served to remind him just how far he was from anyone and anything familiar.    
  
There was nothing around him, just the empty vacuum of space with tiny points of light dotting an ocean of black. No planets, no asteroids, and definitely no signs of intelligent life. So while he left the mapping itself on he certainly didn’t need to see a constant reminder of the nothingness surrounding him.   
  
He normally wouldn’t have even been on a trip like this, but he’d graduated high school last year and had asked to tag along with his parents to get some real world experience with deep space travel. But a freak accident had left his parents both dead, their ship crippled, and him knocked out. By the time he’d regained consciousness the fire suppression systems had sealed off the unoccupied areas of the ship and he was left with the sickening knowledge that he couldn’t even give his parents a proper funeral. Their bodies had been sucked out into space while he was out cold.   
  
And now it looked like he was going to die a sad lonely death in the depths of unknown space.   
  
At one point he’d considered simply ending it, but some stubborn part of him insisted that he wait it out to the bitter end. Even if he was lost someone else might come along in time, trying their own hand at mapping out the unknown only to discover they weren’t the first to make the attempt. At least then his family’s story would live on, and as amateur anthropologists that would be the kind of legacy that would make his parents proud. The least he could do was make sure there was as much story as possible before he passed on as well.

Tim slapped his own cheeks and shook off thoughts of his own impending doom before he made his way over to his ‘bedroom’ and picked up his e-reader. He was immensely grateful that it had survived, otherwise he might have gone insane with boredom during his forced isolation. He wedged himself against the window before he unlocked the screen and began reading. He was just getting to the part where the protagonist was gearing up for battle when Tim felt the sudden sensation of being watched.   
  
He dismissed it at first, after all he was very much alone on the ship, but then he spotted a bit of movement in his peripheral vision. Tim frowned and turned to find himself face to face...or rather face to eye ( _ because good lord that was an enormous eye _ ) with something outside the window. Tim let out a small screech and immediately flung himself away from his perch, accidentally sending himself into a dizzying spin thanks to the lack of gravity. 

It took ten heartstopping seconds for him to latch onto the back of the captain’s chair and right himself. His heart kicked back on and dove straight into overdrive thanks to the adrenaline rushing through his system. He immediately looked back at the window, one hand pressed to his chest in an instinctive bid to keep his heart from pounding right through his rib cage. All that greeted him was the same empty field of stars he’d been looking at for the past several weeks.   
  
_ Shit. Is this it? Is this when I start to go crazy? _ Tim thought to himself as he tried to calm his breathing. He’d almost convinced himself it was just his imagination when he began hearing small metallic pings from above him, and his brain helpfully supplied an image of some sort of tentacled monstrosity trying to pull apart the ship like the shell of a lobster to get at the juicy flesh inside.   
  
Tim let out a slightly hysterical laugh. Just moments ago he’d resigned himself to a slow death of starvation, but now it seemed he had to worry about explosive decompression. Suddenly the pinging sounds stopped and he felt a slight crawling sensation at the back of his scalp that had him scratching at his head before wincing at a sudden case of tinnitus.   
  
No, not tinnitus. Tinnitus didn’t pitch up and down like that. It was...speech?   
  
“ _ Can you hear me? _ ”   
  
“Wh-what?” Tim asked, looking around furiously.   
  
“ _ Finally! I’ve never dealt with your species before so I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get through. I said you need to get out of there _ .”   
  
“What?” Tim asked again.  _ Oh man. I really am going crazy. _   
  
“ _ Nah, you’re not crazy. At least not so far as I can tell. Anyway, back to what I was saying. I tasted your ship and it’s definitely not going to make it to the next inhabited world before the hull fails. I can get you to safety but I need you to let me in so I can see what sort of environment you need because I can tell by looking at you, you’re not built for space. _ ”   
  
Tim felt slightly offended at that assessment considering all the training he had to go through to be certified to work in zero G, but objectively whatever he was speaking to was right. Humans weren’t built for space. He was meant to walk and sometimes swim...and God what he wouldn’t give to be able to walk normally again.   
  
“ _ So let me in and we’ll get you to a planet suited to that sort of thing. Just set everything to where it would normally be and I’ll get you to the closest inhabited world that suits your needs. _ ”   
  
Tim hesitated, that would be quite the power drain. And if this was just a delusion he’d be draining the batteries to the point they'd last a couple days at best instead of a few weeks.

“ _ I promise, you don’t have to be afraid. You just have to let me in. _ ”   
  
Tim blinked, he’d seen that sort of request in horror movies. Usually from some devastatingly handsome vampire or the like. What if it was a tra--

Tim let out a small wail of distress as the gravity returned and he thudded to the ground, cracking his head against the side of the chair on the way down. Apparently, he hit the button to restore the ship to default while trying NOT to picture sexy bad boys in leather. He pushed himself up with a groan, intending to put the settings right back where he had them but he heard the distinct sound of a door opening from outside the ship and realized this was no dream.   
  
Tim trembled a little and made sure his visitor closed the door behind him before he hauled himself up into the Captain’s chair to wait. 

He was  _ not _ expecting what strode through the door to find him.   
  
“Well hello there. You really are as tiny as you looked from outside, huh?”   
  
Tim gaped at the man that stood before him. It ( _ He _ ) ticked off every single thing he found attractive. Well almost. His dream man definitely didn’t have four tentacles protruding from his back. Although now that he had the vision in front of him it wasn’t all that bad.   
  
The stranger strode across the bridge, curiously reaching out to touch various bits of the architecture with those tentacles and pulling them away with light pop-like the releases of a suction cup.

Tim touched a knuckle to his bottom lip as he tried to puzzle out this new development. He’d definitely seen a giant eye outside the ship but maybe that had just been some odd sort of viewport? But surely he would have noticed the ship before it got right up on him. Distracted or not, movement in his peripheral vision should have picked up on an approach well before they were literally right next to him. Even the best stealth tech resulted in a shimmer while moving. Unless they had some sort of advanced stealth tech? That would make sense.

“Oooh, this tastes nice. What is it?”   
  
Tim blinked and forced himself to focus on what the stranger was holding out to him wrapped in one of those tentacles. ‘Oh...uh, it’s a can. It held my breakfast.”   
  
“You eat metal?”   
  
“Not the can itself, just what used to be inside it.” Tim replied. “Errr...I’m Tim by the way. Timothy Jackson Drake.”   
  
“Nice to meet you Tim. I’m Jason. Jason Peter Todd.”   
  
“Jason? That’s an awfully human sounding name.” Tim said.   
  
The man/cephalopod/whatever laughed. “You’re hearing a name in your native tongue that reflects the feeling of my actual name. It makes things easier given you can’t speak the way I normally would.”   
  
“How would that be?”   
  
“Shifting the color of my skin.” Jason replied as he spread his tentacles which went translucent before shifting through a rainbow of color and light.   
  
“Ohh...that’s beautiful.” Tim murmured before he blinked. “Wait, your voice isn’t the same as it was in my head a moment ago.”    
  
“Of course not. I was using telepathy. It’s always a little different. Kind of like hearing your own voice in a recording versus hearing it in your own head.” Jason said. “You must be from pretty far away not to know that.”   
  
“About one hundred fifty parsecs the last time I looked.” Tim said.   
  
“Impressive for a ship that depends on crystalized fuel.” Jason said.   
  
“It wasn’t intentional.” Tim murmured. “We were attacked during our deep space explorations. I got pushed off course by the explosion and I’ve been travelling on pure inertia since.”   
  
“...you lost someone. Didn’t you?” Jason asked as his voice softened.   
  
Tim bit his lip to hold in the sudden urge to cry. “My parents. I’ve been all alone out here.”   
  
Jason moved over and rested his hands on Tim’s shoulders. “I’m sorry for your loss.”   
  
Tim shook his head. “It-it’s okay. As long as I live and preserve their research they won’t have died in vain.”

“Do you have a way to save their work for travel? I can transport you and a few belongings but not much more.”   
  
“Saving what I have so far is easy. It’s compiling the new data that takes up the most space.” Tim said. “I just need an hour or so to get it together and we can move to your ship.”   
  
“You won’t regret it.” Jason promised with a grin.

\-----

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're a City of Heroes fan you probably have an idea where this is going.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim learns that Jason's ship isn't exactly conventional.
> 
> Written for JayTim Week 2021

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where is starts getting odd my lovelies. Thanks to WeirdAlterEgo who requested I cover how Jason and Tim will be traveling together (and beta read the results), Noblehunter who named the ship, as well as clarityhiding and Bumpkin over on the Capes & Coffee Discord server for helping me flesh out the weird biological tech. 
> 
> DAY TWO - REQUEST OR REDEMPTION/FALL FROM GRACE

Somehow, between racing around trying to compile data and choosing what to bring with him, Tim managed to forget the giant eye that had started this little adventure. But he certainly remembered it when it was time to board Jason’s ship and a giant squid suddenly shimmered into existence.   
  
“Gah! What the hell is that?!” Tim exclaimed as he backpedaled right into Jason’s chest.   
  
“My ship.” Jason replied with a chuckle. _   
_   
“Why does it look like a giant squid?” Tim squeaked.   
  
“His name is Charles Dexter Ward and he’s a  _ lusca _ , not a squid. Although I could see the resemblance”   
  
“He? It...he’s alive?!”    
  
Jason nodded and gently rested his hands on Tim’s shoulders. “It’s a symbiotic relationship. I get safe passage through the stars and he gets to feed on my psychic energy.”   
  
“Oh.” Tim murmured. “But...how do we travel on him?”   
  
“In him.” Jason corrected.   
  
Tim blinked a few times as he processed that. “I’m sorry. Did you say  **_in_ ** him?”   
  
Jason nodded. “Yes. In him.”   
  
“Like in his stomach?” Tim asked, clearly alarmed.   
  
“No, not the stomach. It’s more like a...pouch? Or a womb? I can tell it’s not quite translating here.”   
  
“A womb?” Tim asked, even more confused.   
  
“That seems like the closest analog. It’s not meant for birthing or true digestion. It’s more like a holding tank. Historically they used to capture a sentient creature, feed for a few days or so, then release them when they started getting apathetic or fatalistic.” Jason explained. “Then they found our world and we discovered we were actually highly compatible. We still can’t truly speak to each other, but it’s a bit like having a very high functioning pet.”   
  
“A pet that you travel inside.” Tim said.   
  
“Precisely.” Jason said with a grin that really shouldn’t have been as charming as it was.

“...any idea how this is going to affect me?” Tim asked.   
  
“Not precisely, but you’re an intelligent carbon-based lifeform with strong emotions. So chances of you doing well are very high as long as you don’t let yourself sink into too much ennui.”   
  
“Not that I think that’s going to happen all things considered, but what if it does?”   
  
“We stop on a planet that can support us, get some fresh air, have a small adventure and then keep going.” Jason said. “It’s part of why they don’t mind the travel. The exploration helps refresh us mentally so we keep tasting good.”   
  
Tim blinked a few times before he pulled in a deep breath. Honestly, when compared to dying alone from hull failure and the subsequent horrors of either being crushed or frozen while suffocating in the vacuum of space, he’d rather take his chances in the belly of the space squid. At least then he wouldn’t be alone.   
  
“Okay then...let’s go.

  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim discovers his new accommodations are either less than ideal or a dream come true depending on his current perspective.
> 
> Written for JayTim Week 2021

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tim is a smol bean in an ocean of weird. Thanks again to WeirdAlterEgo for being my beta, Noblehunter who named the ship, as well as clarityhiding and Bumpkin over on the Capes & Coffee Discord server for helping me flesh out the weird biological tech.
> 
> DAY THREE - ROOFTOP RENDEVOUS/SIZE DIFFERENCE

Tim managed not to utterly freak out when Charles opened the outside airlock. He managed not to freak out when the squ- _lusca_ covered the doorway and slid a tentacle (a tentacle that was easily thicker than his entire torso by the way) inside the passageway. He even managed not to freak out when said tentacle opened up like something out of a horror show and filled the entirety of the space creating some sort of strange bioluminescent gangplank.  
  
No, the freakout came when they finally landed inside the area they’d be traveling in and Tim got to see just why he was limited to what he could carry on his person. He and Jason were going to be practically on top of each other in the small space. There was literally nothing but two pod-like structures and the raised dais of flesh that they currently stood next to.  
  
“Easy there. Don’t go hyperventilating on me.” Jason said as he turned Tim around so they could look into each other’s eyes. “It’s going to be okay. I know it looks a little claustrophobic now but once we hook up it’ll get a lot better.”  
  
“H-hook up?” Tim squeaked, turning pink.

Jason nodded. “I’ll show you.”  
  
_Show me what?_ Tim thought to himself before picturing a bare-chested Jason and turning even more pink.

Jason chuckled. “I’m flattered, but I can see I’m going to have to help you learn to control your outside thoughts.”  
  
“Oh god! I almost forgot you’re telepathic.” Tim groaned, covering his face.  
  
“Just now remembered that did you?” Jason asked as he began stripping down.  
  
“What are you doing?!” Tim gasped.  
  
“Freeing up attachment points.” Jason said as a portion of the dais opened up, letting him store his flight suit and socks inside.  
  
Tim couldn’t help but stare a bit. _He looks so human...tentacles aside. And look at those thighs! I bet I could climb just one of those thighs like a tree trunk. I wonder if what’s under the boxers is human t-GAH! Stop thinking things like that!_  
  
Jason smirked a little and sat down on the unopened portion of the dais. “I suggest you strip down too. There’s less chafing that way.”  
  
“I--uh--” Tim began only to pause as Jason stretched his own tentacles out to slot into some metallic receptacles he hadn’t noticed earlier. “Whoa.”  
  
“Don’t flinch.” Jason said conversationally right before several tentacles sprang from the area behind Tim to ‘help’ him strip down.  
  
“GAH!!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim's adventure ends (but also begins).
> 
> Written for JayTim Week 2021

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to WeirdAlterEgo for being my beta, Noblehunter who named the ship, as well as clarityhiding and Bumpkin over on the Capes & Coffee Discord server for helping me flesh out the weird biological tech.
> 
> DAY FOUR - FREE DAY

Several minutes and more than a little squirming later Tim was plopped down on the dais next to Jason as the tentacles stowed away his clothes and other belongings inside the jell-o-like structure before it sealed itself up. The smaller man blushed clear to his toes and crossed his arms protectively over his chest.   
  
“That really wasn’t necessary. I would have taken them off on my own...eventually.” Tim muttered.   
  
“Then we just helped you do it a little faster.” Jason said before, tilting his head. “You’ve gone from pink to red. It’s kind of cute.”   
  
Tim’s blush grew even worse at that assessment but he soldiered on. “You said something about hooking up? I don’t have tentacles so I’m not sure how--”   
  
Jason pointed at Tim’s belly button. “That’s where you were connected to your mother in the womb, yes?”   
  
Tim glanced down at what felt like a non-sequitur. “Yes?”   
  
“Good. That should be an ideal point of connection.”   
  
“But that’s a scar, not an op--” Tim cut off as a new sort of tentacle, tipped with something more reminiscent of a leech’s mouth than a sucker, slid into view.  _ Oh hellz naw. _   
  
“Don’t worry. It shouldn’t hurt.” Jason promised.   
  
“It has teeth!” Tim hissed.   
  
“It’s the best way to introduce nutrients into your system.” Jason said. “Unless you’d prefer to go the oral route and suck--”   
  
Tim’s blush flared up again before he nabbed the waiting tentacle and pressed it against his belly.   
  
Jason let out a soft gasp before the tentacle swiveled around to latch onto Tim’s belly buton. “E-easy with how you grab onto things. I’m hooked up now so I feel it.”   
  
Tim almost missed that little tidbit as he let out a gasp of his own. As Jason had promised, it didn’t hurt when the tentacle latched on, but it was definitely a strange sensation. This was followed by a slight numbing around the area of attachment that reminded him of novacaine.    
  
“Sorry, I just-- Wait. What do you mean you feel it?” Tim asked.   
  
“Give me a couple seconds here.” Jason said. “It’s been a really long time since I shared this kind of connection.”   
  
Tim was about to ask what Jason meant when he suddenly found himself falling, both mentally and physically. He dimly registered his body thudding onto the dais / _ oh wow...it’s like memory foam _ / as the room blurred out and his vision tunneled. He barely had time to register being disoriented before he was looking out at his own ship. Only it wasn’t simply the dull gunmetal gray he was used to.   
  
The ship, the stars, everything in his vision seemed sharper like a polarized photo.   
  
_ What? _ Tim thought to himself.   
  
“ _ We’re looking through Charles’ eyes right now. _ ” Jason said. “ _ I thought you might like to see your ship one more time before we get underway. Once we hit our stride I’ll take you into a mindscape to pass the time until our next stop. _ ”   
  
“ _ It’s beautiful. _ ” Tim thought back.   
  
“ _ I-I suppose it is. _ ” Jason said. “ _ It’s just normal for me, but you’re seeing new spectrums. It must be a brand new experience. _ ”

_  
_ “ _ You can’t tell? _ ” Tim asked.   
  
“ _ No. I can pick up on surface thoughts, but I can’t hook into your neural pathways that deeply. It’s like--like hearing you mumble to yourself. I can hear what you’re saying but I won’t necessarily see the reasons behind it. _ ”   
  
“ _ Ohh, that’s actually kind of comforting. I was worried I’d be thinking all sorts of strangeness at you. _ ”   
  
“ _ Only if you think loudly, but we’ll work on that. For now though...take one last look and say good-bye. _ ”

Tim nodded and focused on the sight of the ship as Charles let go of the vessel and gave it a gentle nudge to let it keep on drifting. In five minutes the lights, the life support, and everything but the mapping hardware would go offline. His ship would continue its lonely voyage without him, possibly for years now that it didn’t have to worry about the huge power drain needed to keep a human being alive.   
  
He liked to think it would eventually be found one day. If not by humans than by some other sentient race that would find his last recorded message and know there used to be a family of explorers known as the Drakes. That they were the first of their kind in that area of space and that at least one of them lived long enough to go on a new adventure. Now that, that was a legacy that might actually make his parents proud.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have more I want to write for this world, but this felt like the best place to end things for now. Thank you all for the kudos, comments, and general support. It really motivates me to keep going.


End file.
